Luke Dunstan has been here from the bottom and been part of the gradual rise back up the ladder towards September. And now with the pen still warm from signing a new deal, the South Australian midfielder will continue to be part of the climb for at least the next three seasons after inking a two-year extension on Wednesday.
Despite having a year still to run on his current deal, the hard-nosed onballer quickly put pen to paper on the same day the Saints secured No. 1 ruckman Tom Hickey until the end of the 2019 season.
On the back of a season where St Kilda was on the cusp of a return to finals football, only to fall short on percentage, the 22-year-old says he has enjoyed the upward ride and has quickly made Melbourne his new home.
“It’s an exciting time at the footy club and since I got here, we were down the bottom of the ladder and I’ve been able to be here across the time where we’ve worked our way up,” Dunstan told saints.com.au on Wednesday.
“Now we want to push and try and play some finals action, but it’s just really exciting.
“Obviously I’ve still got all my family and friends back home and you do miss them, but it feels like home here now and I’m really enjoying my time here and loving Melbourne.”
Since being selected with pick No. 18 in the 2013 National Draft, the former South Australia under-18 captain has played 53 games across his first three seasons at Linen House Centre.
He played 18 of the first 19 games last season before suffering a shoulder injury late in the year which required his second shoulder reconstruction in the space of three years, albeit on the other shoulder this time around.
Dunstan transitioned back into full training in January after completing his rehabilitation and revealed he followed a similar running program to key forward Tim Membrey 12 months earlier, who also worked his way back from a shoulder reconstruction before producing a breakout season in 2016.
“It’s (shoulder) been going really well. I did a similar off-season running program to what Tim Membrey did last year and I feel like I’ve got a really good base under myself now. I’ve been back into full training for the last month now and I feel really good,” he said.
“It’s probably the one side (endurance) of my game that needs the most improvement. I’ve just been chipping away at it year after year and I’m slowly getting there. I feel like I made some really good inroads this pre-season.”
Dunstan will feature in St Kilda’s intra-club on Thursday night at Trevor Barker Oval, before looking to get some minutes into his legs over the JLT Community Series, which commences for the Saints next Thursday.
